The present invention relates to refrigerators and freezers, and more particularly to a cabinet that can be used with an interchangeable refrigerator unit to provide a reach-in cabinet that can be either a refrigerator or a freezer.
Refrigerators and freezers used in commercial locations are predominantly models known as reach-in coolers. Reach-in coolers differ from refrigerators and freezers for home use primarily in their size, large open shelf spacing, wide doors, materials of construction, larger refrigeration system size (required for frequent door openings) and the heavy-duty nature of their construction.
At present, reach-in coolers are primarily sold in one, two and three door models. Also, the coolers are built as either refrigerators or freezers. In addition to a larger capacity refrigeration system required for maintaining freezing temperatures, reach-in freezers typically also have thicker wall insulation than reach-in refrigerators, as well as several additional components, such as a heater wire surrounding the door opening to prevent frost build-up at the door.
One problem that currently exists relating to such refrigerators and freezers is that dealers generally do not stock the units, but rather obtain them from the manufacturer or a wholesaler to fill orders as the orders are received. This means that purchasers have to wait at least for shipping time, and sometimes even for construction time, after they place an order before a new cooler is delivered. In today's fast-paced society, it would be a significant advantage to be able to offer immediate delivery of reach-in coolers to prospective purchasers. However, for a dealer to stock sufficient quantities of both refrigerators and freezers in one, two and three door models would require large capital investments in inventory and storage space.